Julius Abure, factional National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has cautioned Senator Seriake Dickson, National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), to be wary of Peter Obi and his supporters, warning that the party could face the same internal challenges that rocked the Labour Party after the 2023 general election.
Abure issued the warning in a statement on Monday following Obi’s emergence as the NDC presidential candidate after his ratification at the party’s national convention in Abuja on May 30.
According to Abure, Dickson appeared to have learned from the Labour Party’s experience, commending the reported decision not to hand over all elective positions within the NDC to Obi’s loyalists.
“They say history usually repeats itself. Senator Dickson and his team have seen what happened to us and learned from it. A lot of those who won elections and got into government later turned against the leadership of the party,” Abure said.
He further described Obi and some of his supporters as “ingrates,” alleging that they failed to appreciate the sacrifices made by the Labour Party leadership during the 2023 elections.
“I want to say that Obi and his followers are ingrates who will never remember the sacrifices you made for them. It is even dangerous for the leadership of the NDC to wholly hand over elective positions to Obi and his followers,” he stated.
Abure claimed that several politicians elected on the Labour Party platform in 2023, including Obi and Abia State Governor Alex Otti, later opposed the party leadership despite receiving significant support.
He said the LP accommodated Obi’s interests ahead of the 2023 elections by granting several tickets to his supporters, many of them without charge.
“We ensured that Obi’s interests were adequately taken care of. We only looked at his body language and obliged most of his supporters’ requests for tickets. Most of the tickets were given free because we believed we were investing in those individuals in line with the philosophy of the party,” he said.
Abure also blamed the party’s internal crisis on the intervention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which acted on a court ruling that declared the tenure of the party’s executives expired, leading to the emergence of the Nenadi Usman-led interim national committee.
“They fell into the trap of INEC when the commission claimed that the tenure of the executive had expired. We expected them to reject that position,” he added.
The LP chieftain advised Dickson to ensure that trusted loyalists occupy strategic positions within the NDC to protect the party’s structure and leadership.
“He needs to have his own people in key positions so that when challenges arise, there will be people who can defend and support him,” Abure said.
He further alleged that Obi’s supporters joined the NDC with the intention of dominating the party’s structure.
“They trooped into the NDC with Obi hoping to occupy every available space, just as they did in the Labour Party. No political party leader who has seen what Obi and his followers did to the Labour Party will make that mistake again,” he said.